Sickle guard



A. G. GAB LE Dec. 6, 1949 SIGKLE GUARD Filed July 2, 1947 22 are I T-fig} INVENTOR. wwbfi. M

Patented Dec. 6, 1949 SICKLE GUARD Arthur G. Gable, Toledo, Ohio, assignor-to Toledo Stamping & Manufacturing Company, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application July 2, 1947, Serial No. 758,565

This invention relates to sickle guards of the type used on horse drawn or power mowers, and more particularly to mower guards made of sheet metal.

Heretofore sickle guards have been made from forgings and castings. These forgings and castings are solid members and are quite heavy. Excess weight is objectionable especially with longer cutter bars coming into use at the present time.

Sickle guards are often subjected to impact and bending stresses. Cast and forged metals have low resistance to impact and bending stresses due to the characteristics of cast and forged metals. In order to obtain the strength required to produce satisfactory cast and forged sickle guards sufiicient metal has been put into the sickle guard to give the desired strength. This has resulted in a heavy sickle guard.

My improved sickle guard overcomes this objection in two ways. My improved sickle guard is made from sheet metal which is stronger and more resilient than cast or forged iron. My improved sickle guard has a channel shaped cross section which gives more strength per unit of cross sectional area than does a solid section such as is used in the conventional cast or forged sickle guard.

My improved sickle guard is made of sheet metal formed in stamping processes. The expensive machining processes required on cast and forged sickle guards are eliminated in my improved sickle guard.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a sickle guard that provides the greatest possible strength per unit weight of material.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sickle guard that eliminates expensive machining processes.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sickle guard with a cross section that provides the maximum strength per unit area of the cross section.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sickle guard that is adapted to quantity production.

Another object of my invention is to provide a sickle guard that is simple, strong, durable, and inexpensive.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangements of the various parts of my improved device as described in the specification, claimed in the claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

7 Claims. (01. 56-311) Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved sickle guard.

' Figure 2 is a side elevation of my improved sickle guard.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4"is a sectional view taken 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken 55 of Figure-2.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken 66 of Figure 3.

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken 7-! of Figure 3.

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken 8-8 of Figure 3.

Figure 9 is top plan view of the ledger plate used in connection with my improved sickle guard.-

- Referring to the drawings I have shown one form of my invention comprising a lower stamping I0, an upper stamping II, a ledger plate I2, and a rivet 25.

The lowerstamping II] has a channel shaped body portion I4, a flat tapering nose portion I3 extending forwardly from the channel shaped body portion I4 and a securing portion I5 extending rearwardly from the body portion I4. The securing portion I4 is provided with an aperture I6. When my improved sickle guard is secured to a cutter bar (not shown) a bolt is inserted through the aperture I6 and the sickle guard is bolted to the cutter bar (not shown) with the upper surface I! of the securing portion I5 against the lower surface of the cutter bar. The flanges I8 protrude from the sides of the securing portion. The flanges I8 abut similar flanges of adjacent sickle guards when the sickle guards are secured on a cutter bar (not shown).

The abutting flanges I8 of adjacent sickle guards keep the sickle guards properly located on the cutter bar. The body portion I4 is provided with a flat ledger plate bed I9. A ledger plate securing finger 20 extends rearwardly from the forward portion of the channel shaped body portion I4.

The upper stamping I I is provided with a curved body portion 2I. The lower edges of the curved body portion engage the lower channel shaped body portion I4 as shown in Figures 5 and 6. A flat tapering nose portion 22 extends forwardly from the curved body portion 2| adjacent the upper surface of the nose portion I3. A lip or knife guard portion 23 extends rearwardly.

The1edger plate I: is provided with a securing along line along line along line along line along line along line tongue 24. The securing finger 20 and the curved body portion 2| hold the forward end of the ledger plate in position. A rivet 25 secures the rear end of the ledger plate I2 in position.

In the manufacture of my improved sickle guard the upper stamping I l and the lower stampings are separately formed from individual blanks of predetermined size and shape=-in a plurality of stamping operations. The lowerstamping l0. and the upper stamping H are welded together as shown at 26 while they are held in the proper position by a suitable fixture. After the upper stamping II and the lower stamping l are-prop plate [2 is inserted under the: securing finger.- 20

and the side walls of the curved body portion-11:. The rivet 25 is then added to keep the ledger plate I2 securely in position.

The upper stamping H and the lower stamping can also be secured by a brazing process instead of the welding process described above.

From the preceding description it will be noted that my improved sickle guard is composed of an upper stamping II, a lower stamping lll' a conventional ledger plate l2 and, a. rivet 25. As stated above the upper and lower stampingsare stamped or pressed, from a. sheet metal blank. In this stamping or pressing processthe fibers. oi the sheet metal are preserved thusproducing a sickle guard which preserves the strength of the sheet metal. The channel shape of the lower body portion l4 also provides maximum strength. From the above description it is. evident that my improved mower guard is strong, resilient and light in weight. w

While I have described one formof my invention, I do not wish to be limitedto. the particular form shown and described as it will be apparent.

to those skilled in the art that many modif ca tions therein may be made without departing from the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what. Iv claim is:

1. A sickle guard comprising a lower stamping, said lower stamping comprising a downwardly open channel shaped body portion. a flat nose portion extending forwardly therefrom and asecuring portion extending rearwardly therefrom; and an upper stamping comprisingacurved body portion secured to said-channel shaped body por-- tion, a fiat nose portion extending forwardly from said curved body portion and secured to'firstsaidnose portion thereby providing. a; solid nose portion and a lip extending. rearwardly from said curved body portion above said channel shapedbodyportion, both of saidfiat nose,- portions' extending to the forward end of said sickle guard to: provide a horizontally laminated fiat. nose portion.

2. A sickle guard comprising a lower stamping; said lower stamping comprising a, downwardly open channel shaped body portion, aflat tapering. nose; portion extending forwardly therefrom and a; securing portion extending rearwardlyfrom said body portion; and an upper stamping com prising a curved body portion secured to. said. channel shaped body portion, a flat tapering nose portion extending forwardly from said curved body portion tothe. foremost portion thereof above said flat tapering portion of said lower stamping and secured thereto thereby" providing a solidnose portion, and a lip extending rearwardly'froin said curved body portion.

3. A sickle guard comprising a lower stamping;

said lower stamping comprising a downwardly open channel shaped body portion, a flat tapering nose portion extending forwardly therefrom, a securing portion extending rearwardly from said body portion and a plurality of flanges ex tendin sidewise from said securing portion adapted to engage similar flanges of adlacent sickle guards; and an upper stamping comprising a convex body portion secured above said channel shaped body portion, a fiat tapering nose portion extending forwardly from said convex body portion extending to the foremost portion of and secured to the upper surface of said flat tapering nose portion of said lower stamping to provide a solid nose portion of said sickle guard and a lip portion extending rearwardly from said curved body portion thereby providing a knife slot between, said lip and said channel shaped body portion.

L A sickle guard comprising a lower stamping; said lower stamping comprising a downwardly open channel shaped body portion, said channel shaped portion body providing a hat ledger plate seat,.a fiat nose portion extending forwardly from said channel shaped body portion, a securing portion of substantial channel shape extending rearwardly from said channel shaped body portion, a plurality of flanges extending sidewise from said securing portion; an upper stamping comprising a convex bodyportion secured to the for-- ward portion of said channel shaped body portion,.a nose portion extending forwardly from said convex body portion above said flat nose portion of said lower stamping. and. secured thereto thereby providing a horizontally laminated hat nose portion, a 11p extendingv rearwardly from said convex body portion above said. ledger plate seat; a ledger plate. located on said ledger plate seat and a plurality of, means for securing said ledger plate on said ledger plate seat.

5. A sickle guard comprising a lower stamping; said lower stamping comprising a downwardly open channel shaped body portion, a flat tapering nose portion extending. forwardly therefrom and a securing portion extending rearwardly from said body portion, a flat ledger plate. seat provided by the upper surface of said body portion and a finger member extending rearwardly from said nose portion above the level of said ledger plate. seat; an upper stampin comprising. a convex body portion secured to the forward portion of said channel shaped body portion, a nose extending forwardly from said convex body portion above said nose portion of said lower stamping and secured thereto, both of said fiat nose portions terminating at. the. same forward point to provide a solid nose portion of said sickle guard, a lip extending, rearwardly from said convex body portion above said ledger plate seat; a ledger plate located onsaid ledger plate seat, the forward end ofsaid ledger plate secured in position by means of said finger member of saidlower stamping and the convex body portion of said upper stamping; and a rivet adapted to secure the rear end of said ledger plate in position.

6. A sickle guard comprising a lower stamping said lower stamping comprising a downwardly open channel shaped body portion, a flat tapering nose portion extending forwardly therefrom, a securing portion extending rearwardly from said body portion, a flat ledger plate seat provided by the upper surface of said bodyportion and a finger member extending rearwardly from said nose portion above the level of said ledger plate seat; and an upper stamping comprising a convex body portion secured to the forward portion of said channel shaped body portion, a nose portion extending forwardly from said convex body portion above and to the forward portion of said nose portion of said lower stamping and secured thereto to provide a solid nose portion of said sickle guard and a lip extending rearwardly from said convex body portion above said ledger plate seat.

'7. A sickle guard comprising a lower stamping; said lower stamping comprising a downwardly open channel shaped body portion, said channel shaped body portion providing a flat ledger plate seat, a flat nose portion extending forwardly from said channel shaped body portion, a channel shaped securing portion extending rearwardly from said channel shaped body portion, and a plurality of flanges extending sidewise from said securing portion, an upper stamping entirely located above said lower stamping, said upper stamping comprising a convex body portion secured to the forward portion of said channel shaped body portion, a fiat nose portion extending forwardly from said convex body portion above said fiat nose portion of said lower stamp- 6 ing and terminating at the same forward point, both of said flat nose portions co-acting to provide a nose portion of said sickle guard, a lip extending rearwardly from said convex body portion above said ledger plate seat; a ledger plate located on said ledger plate seat and a plurality of means adapted to secure said ledger plate on said ledger plate seat.

ARTHUR G. GABLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

